Index-tag.



C. B. ULRICH.

INDEX TAG.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 12. 1914.

- Patented Oct. 19, 1915.

ATTORN EY CHARLES B. ULRICH, 0F HOUGHTON, MICHIGAN.

INDEX-TAG.

Specification of letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 19, 1915.

Application filed February 12, 1914. Serial No. 18,361.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES B. ULRICH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Houghton, in the county of Houghton and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Index-Tag, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to improvements in index tags, and is designed more particularly for marking rolls of maps or drawings stored in suitable file cases, so that any desired roll may be located without loss of time.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a clip so constructed as to be readily applied to the end of a roll of drawings, and be readily visible when such roll is placed in a filing cabinet with such end only exposed to view. and even though each compartment of the cabinet contains numerous rolls of drawings any desired drawing may be located with the greatest facility, the cabinet having index arrangements for the positioning of any desired roll. Furthermore, the invention provides means whereby certain classes of drawings may be distinguished from other classes by a characteristic appearance of the identification portion of the clip.

By providing the clip with a face plate arranged to hold a ticket having a drawing number and file case locating members or other marks, it becomes an easy matter for the file clerk to find any drawings wanted by drawing number and case mark, or if these be unknown, then by reference to a suitable index, whether a card index, or of other character, ascertain the drawing number and the case identification marks, whereupon the desired drawing is found at once. Moreover, the clip provides means for charging the drawing to the party or parties taking it from the file room, thus saving the keeping of separate records for the purose. p The invention will be best. understood from a consideration of the following detailed description, taken in connection with the drawings forming a part of this specification, with the further understanding that while the drawings show a practical form of the invention the latter is not confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawings, but niay be changed and modified so long as such changes and modificat1ons mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention.

In the drawin s: Figure 1 is an outline face view of a filing cabinet showing some rolls of drawings stored therein and provided with identification clips and tags. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2,2 of Fig. 1, but drawn on a larger scale. Fig. 3 is a front face view of one of the identification clips. Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the rear face of the ticket holding portion of one of the clips. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the holding members designed to engage a roll of drawings and secure the ticket holder thereto. Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a section on the line 77 of Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a front face view of a removable ticket which may be used in conjunction with the ticket holder. Fig. 9 is a perspective view, partly in section, of a modified form of the structure.

The present invention while designed for a particular use is of wider range than the particular use illustrated in the drawings, and while for convenience of description the latter will be confined tothe particular arrangement shown in the drawings, it will be understood without further explanation that the invention may be employed under any conditions for which it may be adapted.

In Fig. 1 there is shown a filing cabinet 1 provided with shelves 2 and partitions 3 dividing the interior of the cabinet into numerous compartments 4. By means of suitable indicia it is easy to locate any compartment, as, for instance, a certain roll of drawings indicated at 5 may be in the horizontal row B and the upright .row 4, so that the index may show that the particular roll of drawings which it is customary to give an individual number, is to be found in compartment B whereupon the file clerk can readily locate compartment B*- by reference to the two index indicia on the side and top of the cabinet. This manner of locating filing compartments is not of necessity peculiar to the present invention, but is thus briefly explained in order that the marking of the identification devices may be understood. Such identification devices comprise a face plate 6 which may be conveniently made of sheet metal, such as tin or the like,

i and is usually, though not necessarily, made circular. The face plate 6 may, therefore, be conveniently described as of disk or disklike shape. The face plate 6 is provlded with a marginal flange 7 returned upon the face plate in spaced relation thereto to form a marginal receptacle or holding means, and this flange is preferably of a length somewhat less than half the circumference of the face plate. Diametrically opposite from the flange 7 is a similar flange 8 returned toward the flange 7, but of short circumferential length for reasons Which will hereinafter appear.

Near the peripheral portion of the face plate 6 occupied by the flange 7 and substantially midway of the length of the flange 7 the metal of the face plate is punched outwardly from the rear face to form opposed tongues 9 each with an extremity 1O bent toward the other-so that .these tongues are in the form of angle tongues. There is also provided a clip member 11 which may be made of a relatively long narrow metallic strip bent somewhat to one side of its mid point into two legs 12, 13 connected by a yoke portion 14, the'leg 12 joining the yoke portion 14 at substantially right angles, while the leg 13 is connected to the other end of the yoke portion 14 of an-angular extension 15 separating the leg 13 from the leg 12 for a portion of the length of each, but for the remainder of the length of the leg 12 the latter normally lies flat against the leg 13 or nearly so, and the leg has a terminal portion 16 extending beyond the corresponding terminal portion of the leg 12 for an appropriate'distance, the extension 16 being rounded and beveled at the extreme end as indicated at 17.

The yoke portion 14 is cut away at the sides, as indicated at 18, so as to form spaced shoulders 19, and these cut away portions agree in length to the tongues 9 so that the clip 11 is made fast to the face plate 6 by the tongues 9 embracing the yoke 14 at the cut away portions 18 with the annular extensions 10 overlying that face of the yoke remote from the face plate. 6 with the legs extending away from the rear face of the face plate 6 in substantially right angular relation thereto. The tongues 9 hold the clipill firmly to the face plate 6, the extensions 10 being bent into the space between the legs 12 and 13 after the application of the clip to the face plate to thereby lock the two together. There is thus provided an identification clip with the clip or elastic holding member 11 eccentric to the face plate to such an extent as to be nearly coincident with one edge thereof, that edge being the one provided with the circumferentially extended flange 7.

For purposes of identification suitable cards 20 are provided, ,one of these cards being shown separately in Fig. 8, and since in the particular showing of the drawings the face plates 6 are circular, the card 20 is likewise circular and may be of a diameter substantially that of the face plate. Each card 20 is provided with a drawing number 21 and file-case locating indicia 22, 23, which latter in the particular showing of the drawings consists-of a letter of the alphabet at 22, and a numeral at 23, the letter of the alphabet agreeing with .one of the upright series of letters on the file case, and the numeral agreeing with one of the horizontally arranged series of numerals on the file case, so that the two indicia 22 and 23 indicate at a glance'the particular compartment 4 in which the particular drawing having the number indicated at 21 belongs, and these markings also serve to identify the drawing and its cabinet location in a suitable index,

whether kept in a book or in the form of a card index or both.

The elasticity of the legs 12 and 13 is such as to permit the application of the holding member 11 to the roll of drawings, and this elasticity is usually suflicient to hold the device firmly to the drawings, but should it be found that in some characters of drawings the friction caused by the clasticity alone is insufficient the contiguous faces of the legs 12 and 13 may be roughenedor otherwise frictioned as indicated at 24 in Fig. 7. faces are left smooth.

The card 20 is applied to the face plate 6 by introducing one edge under the holding flange 7 and then slightly bending the card so that the opposite edge will slip under the short holding flange or tongue 8, and this may be accomplished without bending the card sufficiently to produce a permanent fold therein, whereupon the natural elasticity of the card will cause-it to lodge behind the flanges 7 and 8 substantially flat against the face plate and accidental escape of the card cannot then occur, becausethe diameter of the card is greater-than the free space between the ends of the flange 7 and the corresponding ends of the flange or tongue 8.

To apply the identification clip to a drawing it is grasped by the hand of the'user, usually with the thumb engaging the flange or tongue 8, and two fingers, say the first and second fingers of the hand engaging the flange 7, at spaced points. The leg 13 being longer-than the leg 12 by the extension 16 may be readily made to engage the inner face of the roll 5 by the extension 16, and

then by a properly directed force applied to the face plate the leg 13 is sprung away from the leg 12 thus permitting the leg 12 to be moved on to the roll' exterior thereto without engaging the roll at all until the holding portion 11 has been introduced on to the roll to or nearly to the yoke 14, when Ordinarily, however, thesethe pressure may be released and the elas ticity of the holding member causes the two legs to approach until they clamp with sufficient force upon the roll 5 to hold the device thereon. In this position with the holding member 11 engaging the roll the face plate with the card 20 lodged therein extends across the end of the roll toward the center thereof, but this face plate is never made larger than the end of a roll, so that for all practical purposes the face plate is within the confines of the'roll even though the holding member 11 is at the edge portion of the roll of drawings. :The' clip member 11 may be placed so close to the edge of the face plate 6 as to be practically coincident therewith, wherefore the rolls may be piled one on the other without liability of catching on the face plates when any one of a pile of rolls of drawings in a compartment is withdrawn. Such a pile of rolls is shown in compartment A of Fig. 1, and it will be observed from the showing of this compartment that some of the tags have the face plate larger than others, and while this is a convenient arrangement it is not a necessary arrangement, for all the tag devices may be of the same size.

The elongated flange 7 is placed at what in use constitutes the'upper edge of the face plate 6, and the flange or tongue 8 is at the lower edge thereof since the natural position of the hand of the user is such that the thumb will engage the lower portion of the face plate while two or more fingers of the hand will engage the upper part and the circumferential extent of the flange 7 is sufficient to accommodate two or more fingers of the human hand, thus preventing any engagement of the fingers of the hand with the card 20, for otherwise the card might be bent or displaced or even accidentally withdrawn and possibly lost. As it is, the card 20 is not engaged at all by the hands of the operator, and consequently is never accidentally displaced and remains in position until purposely removed.

With the structure shown and described a large number of rolls of drawings, which term includes maps and any rolls of sheet material, may be stored within a very limited space without confusion and in a manner to be always readily accessible and obtainable with certainty without loss of time. Each drawing is customarily supplied at the proper end with an identification number so that the proper tag may be applied.

, The cards 20 may befurnished in blank or may have any identification numbers or other indicia thereon that may be desired and these cards are readily applied to the card holders represented by the face plates 6 so that with a supply of card holding devices and cards drawings as received may be indexed and stored away with a certainty of quickly finding them when wanted, no

matter how great may be the number of such drawings.

The spring clip device 11 has the further function of holding the roll of drawings or rolled map from unrolling, and no other means for the purpose need be employed.

9 there is a plate 6 which may be of substantially circular form, and at one edge this plate is formed with an elongated member 11 in the form of a finger or tongue constituting a holding member for the plate 6 and which finger may be inserted in a roll between any of the turns thereof to hold the plate 6 across one end of the roll, in pendent relation thereto, as is the case with the structure shown in the other figures of the drawing. The plate 6 has a holding flange 7 and a holding tongue 8 opposite the flange 7, but the said flange 7 is broken in its continuity by the tongue 11*, the latter being formed in one piece with the plate 6 in the showing of Fig. 9.

In both structures the supporting member 11 or 11 may be secured to the plate 6 or 6 by solder or otherwise, but it is usually to be preferred to either make the holding member in one piece with the card retaining plate, as in Fig. 9, or to join it thereto as in the structure shown in the other figures by locking means.

Vhat is claimed is 1. An identification device for rolls of drawings and the like, comprising a disklike face member with an elongated holding member projecting from the rear of the face member adjacent to one edge of the latter and adapted to engage the roll close to the edge thereof, the face member having oppositely-disposed marginally located inturned devices formed on it and extending over the face remote from the holding member toward the center of the face member for re taining the edge portions of a disk-shaped card, said card retaining devices being separated on opposite sides of the face member by less than the diameter of the card and sufficiently to permit the cardto be sprung out of engagement with the retaining devices without permanently bending the card.

2. An identification device comprising a face member and a holding member therefor projecting rearwardly from the face member near one edge thereof, and said face member being provided with spaced marginal oppositely located card holding means card from the card holdin ing means adapted to temporarily retain an identification card, one of said card holding means being of greater peripheral extent than the other and said other card holding means being located diametrically opposite to an intermediate point of the first-named card holding means, whereby the shorter card holding means provides for the springing out of an inserted card from the card holding members without permanently bending the card, and a holding member for the face member projecting rearwardly therefrom near one edge thereof.

4. An identification device comprising a plate-like face member of substantially disk form with peripherally extended overhanging marginal return flanges in opposed relation one to the other, one of said flanges being of greater peripheral length than the other and the second one being situated diametrically opposite to the mid-point of the first flange, and a holding member on and projecting rearwardly from the face member adjacent to that edge of the latter having the longer flange, said holding mem her being in substantially perpendicular relation to. the plane of the face member.

5. An identification device comprising a plate-like face member and a clip membe firmly secured to the face member adjacent to one edge thereof and provided with leg portions for engaging opposite sides of material to which the device is applied, the face member having opposed spaced locking tongues projecting rearwardly therefrom and-the clip member being provided with an intermediate connecting part for the leg portions about which the opposed locking tongues of the face member are clamped.

6. An identification device comprising a plate-like member having opposed tongues projecting from the rear face thereof and closely adj aeent to one edge, and a clip member comprising elastic leg portions tending normally one toward the other and joined by a yoke embraced by the tongues projecting from the plate-like member, said yoke having entering recesses at opposite sides for the reception of the tongues of the platelike member.

7. An identification device comprising a plate-like member withmarginal peripherally extended return flanges on opposite edges with one flange of greater peripheral extent than the other, a holding member for tended holding means projecting therefrom,

said face member being provided with marginal return flanges constituting holding means on opposite sides of the center of the face member for receiving and retaining an identification card, the holding means on one side of the center being of greater circumferential extent than on the other side and together providing grasping means for the identification device to facilitate the introduction of the holding member into and its withdrawal from the article towhich the device is applied.

9. An identification device comprising a. face member provided with opposed inturned edge portions oppositely located with respect one to the other with one edge portion of greater peripheral extent than the other, and a holding member for the face member fast to and projecting from the rear of the face member in substantially perpendicular relation to the plane of said face member and adjacent to and intermediate of the length of the peripherally longer inturned edge of said face member.

In testimony. that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES B. ULRICH.

Witnesses Jonx H. Sreenns,

F. T. CHAPMAN. 

